Allergies

Scott took Jack to the allergist at the end of September (recommended by the GI as she was suspect of the chronic ear infections and still low appetite). Jack went off all medicine for a week prior to the appointment - no appetite enhancement medicine (which is also an anti-histamine), no nasenex, no nasal flush.

When they were in the room, Jack sat on Scott's lap facing Scott with his shirt off. The nurse came in and drew 6 quadrants on Jack's back. One quadrant was the test -- to show his "normal" reaction. The other quadrants were to test for allergies. Each quadrant had 6 to 8 pricks. The result -- no allergies.

The next day they went to get a panel of blood work done, ordered by the allergist. The result -- he has a low IgG level. It should be over 600 and he is at 540. IgG has to do with antibodies; low antibodies means your body doesn't have all it needs to fight off infections... which could be why Jack was getting so many ear and sinus infections. So how we need to do another blood test to get a baseline, then get a vaccination shot, then another blood test 30 days later to see if his antibodies have increased.

Then we went back to the allergist mid-October to test Jack's breathing. At the first appointment, Jack was clearly congested so he went on nasenex for 2 weeks to clear him up for the breathing test to see if he has asthma. He breathed into a tube for a minute, then did the breathing treatment for seven minutes (cried the entire time), waited 15 minutes, then breathed into the tube for another minute.

As it turns out, Jack has non-allergic rhinitis. Which to me, sounds like nasal allergies but isn't allergies.... it has to do with very sensitive nerve endings that when irritated, leads to congestion and stuffy nose. It can also cause labored breathing and excess coughing. Bad news is there is no cure -- he'll live with his for the rest of his life. Good news is, his symptoms are mild. And we now have an inhaler for Jack for when he needs it.

A problem we ran into was that for the allergy appointment, was Jack being off his appetite enhancement medicine. It has made meal times with him extremely difficult -- he doesn't want to eat, complains of a tummy ache, throws up... its been horrible.